The region of greater Charleston known as West
Ashley traces its roots to the founding of Charles Towne and the
founding of South Carolina in 1670. After seven months at sea, 93
passengers aboard the three-masted, 200-ton frigate
"Carolina" sailed through
Charleston Harbor and into the Ashley River. They landed at the
site of modern-day Charles Towne Landing, and began building their
colony. Within 10 years, however, the colony was moved to the more
easily defensible peninsula.

Monied parties from England and the Caribbean
rushed to get a toe-hold in the new colony. Magnolia Plantation was
established by 1679. Within 10 years, settlers found rice to be the
ideal crop for the climate, and with the help of African slaves,
dozens of rice plantations sprung up along the Ashley River. Old
Charleston families like the Middletons and Draytons acquired
thousands of acres along the Ashley River to devote to the crop.
Today, what remains of three of these
plantations -Middleton Place, Drayton Hall, and
Magnolia Plantation, along with Charles Towne
Landing- are listed as West
Ashley's and Charleston's top
tourism destinations.

Over the next 300 years, the region moved
through the triumphs and tragedies of the American experience. West
Ashley has been host to a major slave uprising, Revolutionary and
Civil War battles, and a few dozen hurricanes.

For years, West Ashley (known until the 1880s
as St. Andrews Parish) sat mostly devoid of dense settlement, save
a few large and small farms, and was until relatively recently
considered to be "out in the
country." The area served as
Charleston's breadbasket for much of that time.
By the early 1900s, a few small businesses and homes had been
built. The largest industry in the area was the Coburg Dairy,
founded in the early 1920s not far from where West
Ashley's most recognizable landmark, the Coburg
Cow, still stands.

But it was the war years that ushered West
Ashley into the thriving community it is today. As the war was
wrapping up, a few real estate speculators began mapping out
neighborhoods in the region. The part of Charleston known as West
of the Ashley quickly became a bedroom community for the peninsula
with the arrival of neighborhoods like Byrnes Downs on the east end
and Northbridge Terrace on the west. With a thriving Navy Base
nearby, military personnel needed housing, and real estate moguls
were eager to provide.

By the 1950s, Avondale Point looked similar to
how it does today. The post-war population explosion led to many
more small business openings. As with much of the rest of the
country, shopping centers and strip malls arrived with the 1970s
and West Ashley's center of retail commerce, the
Citadel Mall, opened in 1981.

West Ashley in the 21st
century is home to more than 60,000 residents, representing all
ages, races, and religions. Today, West Ashley hosts scores of
small shops offering everything from haircuts to landscaping to
pest control to high-end clothing to high-tech gadgets. The people
of the region, along with their businesses, schools, clubs, and
churches, have coalesced over the past decades to create the
beautiful, and thriving community we call West Ashley.